


The Paladins Go To The Beach

by becca_the_quiet_one



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: But Keith Loves Him Anyways, F/M, Fluff, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Mutual Pining, Shallura is Cute, lance is a little shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-17
Updated: 2017-09-17
Packaged: 2018-12-31 00:10:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12120321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/becca_the_quiet_one/pseuds/becca_the_quiet_one
Summary: Or, Shallura is cute, Lance is oblivious, Keith is pining, and Pidge should never be allowed around a barbecue unsupervised.





	The Paladins Go To The Beach

**Author's Note:**

> This took up 10 pages on google docs and it's the longest thing I've ever written. Teen rating is only there for extremely slight language and even slighter implied stuff.

His days at the military had taught Shiro many things, one of which was to never expect your outcome.

He’d never expected that he would one day be freed from his Galra prisoners.

He hardly dared to hope that one day, the war would end, and they were all free to return to Earth.

He couldn’t anticipate that when it ended, the first thing that Allura would do would be to scoop him up and forcefully plant her lips on his.

Shiros time at the garrison had taught him to never expect anything out if the ordinary. So he really should have expected his teammates to drive him crazy.  
________________________________________________________________________________

It was cold when they first returned to Earth, but a few months had passed since then. Now the temperatures were climbing down in Texas, and beginning to reach the upper nineties.

Needless to say, no one was enjoying it.

“Uuuggghhhh” Lance groaned from the couch, “It’s too hoooottt.”

Shiro would almost expect Pidge to reply with “hot damn” from the other side of the room, but she appeared to be too drowsy to even be her usual memeish self.

“LANCE!” Keith shouted from the kitchen, where he had his head stuck in the freezer. “That’s the third time you’ve said that in twenty minutes. Knock it off already.”

“But it’s hhhooootttt.”Lance peeled his face off the couch. Shiro winced at the noise it made.

“I know it is, we all do.” Keiths voice was muffled. “But we can’t go to the castle till Coran finishes working on it.”

“Why nooooottt?” Lance glanced over. “Shiros probably dying here in all that black!”

Shiro sighed as the red and blue paladins bickered. It was times like this when he wished that they had not chosen to forgo living in the castle and instead share an apartment together.

It seemed like an perfect arrangement at first, Pidge was still going to school in the area,it was close to where the castle was parked, and it seemed to fit all of their needs. It even had a kitchen that Hunk deemed acceptable. It meant that, even though the threat was gone, they could still be close.

However, it became apparent that certain parts of this arrangement should have been more closely considered. Like how everyone could hear Hunk getting his midnight snack at three am. Or Pidges machines running at all hours of the night ad occasionally zapping power. Or Keith and Lances aggressive arguments full of sexual tension.

Or the fact that Allura didn’t live there. That one particularly sucked.

Shiro sighed again. “Everyone calm down.”

“I’ll calm down when he does!” Lance pointed at Keith, whose head was still in the freezer

“Never.” Keith deadpanned.

Shiro was starting to seriously lose patience, and judging by the look on Pig=dges face, she remembered the last time hey’d done that.

“H-hey everybody!” Pidge stuttered nervously, “It’ll be fine, the air conditioning will be back on soon.”

“Oh shut up Pidge!” Lance yelled, “It’s your stupid machine that got us in this mess in the first place.”

“Hey!” No one bothered to lift their head when Hunk walked through the door. “Lay off her dude.”

“Hunk!” PIde shouted happily. “PLEASE tell me you got more ice cream?”

“Nope, all out.” Hunk went to pull Keith out of the freezer and put away the rest of the groceries.

“What?!?” PIdge looked crestfallen. “Aww man.”

“But,” Hunk said as he pulled a half frozen Keith out of his way. “I got something better.”

“What could be better than stuffing your face with ice cream on a really hot summer day?” Lance whined.

“Take a guess. What requires sun, water, and a broken air conditioner?”

“Potentially deadly alien bacteria?”

Hunk rolled his eyes. “No.”

Shiro spoke up. “What then?”

Hunk cleared his throat. “Drumroll please.” 

Dead silence. He continued anyway.

“Grab your sunscreen and swimsuits guys, the Paladins of voltron are going to the beach! I rented a van and everything!”

Lance jumped up and began to chatter about how excited he was to get some cute girls numbers (to Keiths immense dislike), and it seemed that the rest of the team was fairly excited by this revelation.

Until Pidge spoke up.

“Uh, guys? Sorry to burst your bubble, but I don’t think any of us actually have swimsuits.”

Hunk, Lance, and Keith froze. Shiro started laughing.

“Alright then,” Shiro said speaking up for the first time. “Grab your wallets instead then. I’ll call Allura and we’ll go to the mall.”  
_______________________________________________________________________

Shiro didn’t know what he was expecting when the other five Paladins of Voltron were at a mall together. Of course he remembered that everyone except Allura had gone to the space mall, and had come back with lenses, a cow, and an inoperable video game system. But surely their experiences as Paladins had increased in intensity since then, and they had all matured, right?

Right?

“I bet I can fit like, ten of these mini corndog samples in my mouth.”

“I bet you can’t!”

“I bet I can!”

“You’re on!”

Wrong. He was very, very wrong.

Shiro felt his eyebrow twitch as he watched Hunk and Pidge run off toward the food court. He’d deal with them later if they didn’t get kicked out. Pidge probably wouldn’t go in the water anyway, and Hunk was barbecuing while they were there, Shiro reasoned.

Allura looked up at his side questioningly. “I have never been in such a place before.”

Shiro turned to look at her and his gaze softened considerably. “Really? Well-”

“Well that makes me the perfect person to show you around!” Lance butted in out of nowhere.

Keith raised an eyebrow. “Uh, Lance, I don’t think-”

“Well of course you don’t think, you have like, nothing in your brain. Come on Allura.” Lance hooked her arm through his (Shiro tried not to think about pounding him into the linoleum floor) and strutted of toward a nearby store, chattering and flirting the whole way.

Shiro breathed out a deep, angry sigh. This was not turning out the way he had hoped.

“Alright then Keith, I guess it’s you and me.”  
________________________________________________________________________________

Out of all the paladins, Shiro expected keith to be the easiest to find a swimsuit for. He ‘d half assumed he could just let him wear anything that fits and wasn’t obscene, and they’d be on their way.

Which he did. It turned out to be worse than expected.

“I mean, what do i have to do, shout it in his face that I’m in love with him!” Keith griped.

Shiro winced. He could sort of feel where he was coming from, he was like Lance in that regard. He didn’t know Allura liked him until she made it obvious. Still, keith had been talking about nothing else for the hur they’d been together

“Maybe you do? Lance can be a bit....oblivious sometimes.”

“Ugh.” Keith buried his face in his hands. Shiro sighed. Again. For about the fifteenth time today.

“Anyway, the others should be here soon. Assuming they haven’t been kicked out.” 

“Yay.” Keith deadpanned. “I get to watch the guy I’m crushing on flirt with other girls.”

“Cheer up Keith, you’re affecting morale.”

“Who is?” The two men turned around to find Allura standing there.

Instantly Shiro brightened and he went to kiss her cheek. “Hey Princess.”

Allura giggled. “Shiro, I am no princess anymore.”

“I know,” Shiro said, “It’s just a pet name.”

“A pet...name?” Allura turned her big blue eyes on him quizically. “This is...what exactly?”

“It’s just another earth thing. When we like someone, we call them cute names.”

“Why?” 

“Because we think our significant other is cute.”

“Aww.” Allura cooed. “I think you are cute as well.”

“OKAy we get it, you’re both cute.” Keith interrupted (rather rudely, Shiro thought) “But we need to get going if we plan on getting to the beach soon. Speaking of which, wheres Lance and the others?”

“About that,” Allura sweatdropped. “We should probably go now, before security shows up.”  
________________________________________________________________________________

An hour and several drive-throughs later (Hunk was this necessary?- Yes, yes it was), and they had finally, finally made it to the beach.

Shiro breathed a large sigh of relief. His stress was finally ended and he could just relax with his girlfriend and his best friends. Surely the rest of this day would be peaceful.

Shiro hoped he was right this time as he unfurled his blanket.

They were taking turns putting on each of their swimsuits inside of the van, and Allura was the last one left. 

“Ugh, why is this taking so long.” Pidge was uncharacteristically impatient.

“Just give her a few minutes.” Shiro turned towards the water.

“No need, I am right here.” 

Shiro turned back towards the van. Then he wished he hadn’t.

Because there was Allura. In a bikini.

In no way was it anything obscene or tiny, it was just at this moment, Shiro questioned how he’d never thought how much skin Allura showed on a daily basis. Which was to say, none.

(Also it was black, which implied things he was trying not to think about.)

She always wore her armor, which was skin tight but left much to the imagination (which he didn’t need), or her long, gossamer dresses that covered even more.

And now she was wearing neither of them. Also a smile. Shiro thought that was the most beautiful thing about her.

“You look,”Shiro said in amazement, “Stunning.”

“Thank you Shiro.”Allura smiled even wider and Shiro felt himself melting.

Loudly and off key, Lance and Pidge began singing The Wedding March.

In spite of his normally cool and collected behavior, Shiro felt his ears grow red.

“Shiro, what is this?” 

No way was he explaining this to Allura. “Just an Earth custom for very immature people. Let’s go.”  
________________________________________________________________________________

Nearby, Hunk began setting up the barbecue, and Lance began talking to some girls.

“Hey ladies, the names Lance.”

Keith clenched his eyes shut. Lance had used that one on him when the first met.

This did not go unnoticed by Hunk. “Hey, maybe you shouldn’t flirt with quite so many girls anymore Lance.”

Lance looked at him like he must have been joking.” Why would I do that? It’s not like the guy I really like is ever gonna like me back so what’s the point?”

Hunk raised an eyebrow. “Okay, number one, I know you like Keith so cut the ‘the guy’ crap, and number two, you’re as dense as a rock if you think he doesn’t like you.”

At first, Lance looked mildly offended, and was about to open his mouth to say so, before his eyes widened in realization and he ran off towards the red Paladin.

Hunk smiled and shook his head. “About time.”

“Agreed.”

“AH! Pidge, where did you come from!”

“Well, when a mommy and a daddy love each other veeerrry much-”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.”  
________________________________________________________________________________

 

Shiro laid contently on his blanket with Allura, watching their friends and the people around them. It felt strange, being around so many people again, but it was a good strange, and there was this feeling in him that, for a moment, everything was good again.

Besides, the view was nice.

Allura was sitting up, with his head on her lap, softly running her fingers through his hair. For the first time today, Shiro sighed not with frustration or relief, but of contentment.

Alluras eyes seemed fixed on something in the distance, which she was staring at dreamily.

Shiro followed her gaze, which landed on a family with two small children, splashing and playing together in the water.

Shiro knew she must have been thinking about her father and her family on Altea. She spoke rarely of her father these days, and even less of her mother. He knew not to pry with what was probably always going to be a touchy subject.

What she did talk about however, was how the Paladins of Voltron and Coran were her family now.The bonds between Allura and the rest of the Paladins were so easy to see.

In private, Allura had once referred to both Keith and Hunk as the brothers she’d never gotten to have. It made sense, all three were playful with each other and clearly happy.

Lance would probably always be slightly annoying, but in some ways he was her closest confidant besides Shiro. He may have been goofy, but he was loyal to a fault, and he was the first to know how Allura felt about Shiro.

Being the only girls on the ship, one would assume that Pidge and Allura would form a deep friendship. They did, but not through means most would find conventional. Shiro recalled with both horror and fondness the night he found the two watching horror movies and playing videos games together. It turns out Allura was really, really good at those.

Shiro never thought he’d ever find a family again, and it made his heart swell to find that now he had one, and Allura was part of that.

His mind began to drift to other family matters. Namely, his and Alluras. He’d never mentioned it, but he could see in the future having a little half-altean running around. Maybe a girl with her mothers hair and her fathers eyes. Or a boy with-

“BOOOM”

Both Shiro and Allura jumped about three feet at the huge explosion, and Allura jumped in front of Shiro as if to protect him. They both turned towards the sound of the noise.

Which was a large, blackened crater where the barbecue used to be, with Pidge and Hunk looking the same. Pidge was holding a wrench and her glasses were skewed. Hunk was holding a spatula and seemed to be missing his headband.

“So, uh,” Hunk said to the group that was now facing them. “Does anyone wanna go out for burgers?”  
________________________________________________________________________________

After a thankfully not charred meal, everyone was now strolling along the boardwalk.

“Shiro, “Allura whispered, “Is it just me, or are Lance and Keith walking suspiciously close together?”

Shiro turned to the two boys, who were walking so close together that their hands were almost touching.

“No, they are.” Shiro said as he subconsciously grabbed Alluras hand. “I wonder if something happened?”

“Something good, surely.” Allura leaned her head on his shoulder and he smiled.

“Yeah.” 

“I am happy for them.”

“Me too.” Shiro said fondly, “Next thing you know they’ll be getting married.”

“Married?” Allura said questioningly, “What is that?”

Shiro stopped. “Marriage is when two people have a ceremony that legally and religiously binds them together forever.”

Allura nodded. “I see. Such a thing was not practiced on Altea, people who wished to be together, simply were.”

“Well these days it’s more of a formality. But twenty years ago,” Shiro pointed to Keith and Lance, “It would have been impossible for them.”

“Why is that?”

Shiro shrugged. “Humans can be close-minded sometimes, and it hurts other people.”

They were quiet after that, but it still appeared that Allura had something on her mind. Her eyes were downcast as she thought

“Allura?” Shiro questioned, “Princess? What’s wrong?”

“Shiro…” Allura brought her blue eyes to his dark ones.”Let’s get married.

Of all the things he expected she was going to say, that was not it.

“What?” He wasn’t angry, rather shocked and confused.

She said it louder this time. “Let’s get married Shiro!” 

Everyone heard it this time.

Hunk fainted, Pidge had a borderline evil smile on her face, Keith raised his eyebrows (the most shock he could manage), and Lance shouted-

“WAIT, WHAT?!?!?!”

“Well, clearly she just asked him to marry her.”

“Yes, thank you Keith.”

“Ooh, I can’t wait to make wedding cake.”

“I call dibs on bridesmaid.”

“You can’t just call dibs on being a bridesmaid Pidge.”

“I’ll walk him down the aisle then.”

And after everything he’d been through today, this was the moment where Shiro finally lost it.

“EVERYBODY STOP!” It came out louder than he meant it to, and even Keith looked a little scared. “I’ll deal with you in a minute!”

Then he turned to Allura, steeled his courage, and sank down to one knee, pulling out a ring.

“Allura, I’ve been carrying this around since we got back, and I’ve been waiting for the right time to give it to you. This wasn’t exactly what I planned, but.” He took a deep breath. “Allura, please marry me.”

She smiled. “Of course I will.”

Shiro jumped up and kissed her full on the lips. In the back of his mind, he thought it was reminicent of the way that she’d kissed him after the war ended.

In the background, everyone cheered, and Lance smiled as Keiths hand slipped into his.

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea if Alteans actually have a concept of marriage or not, but I thought this was cute.
> 
> Please read and comment, it's greatly appreciated


End file.
